Irish Stew

Tried out Martha Stewart's Irish Stew recipe although we did add the carots. Couldn't find any lamb shoulder so I bought lamb loin chops from Costco. Overall not too bad and pretty easy to make. Just throw the ingredients in, bring it to a boil, and then pop it in the oven for 2 hours.

Zoom Zoom

Lauren is all ready to go jogging now. Not sure if Daddy is though. Bought this baby trend expedition jogging stroller at BabiesRUs. Pretty inexpensive compared to the other brands.

Bug off

Saw this bug (spider maybe) in our garage and killed him. While I was sweeping him out on the driveway, a scorpion tried to run into the garage.



Here you can see both the scorpion and the spider in the dead bug position in the driveway. The next morning, they were both gone. Wonder if they were just playing dead or something ate them.

Martha's Le Creuset

Martha Stewart just launched a new line at Macy's. We picked up her 7 qt enamaled cast iron dutch oven for $54 on sale. Regular price was $120. Similar item from Le Creuset is well over $200. The item is so popular most stores don't have them in stock and the online store has even removed the item from their website. Check out the raised dimples on the lid.

Now that I'll be home taking care of Lauren for the next 3 months, I should have plenty of time to make some food in this. Irish Stew is first on the list.

A little rain please

I'm ready for dinner now

We just bought Lauren a high chair so that she could sit with us at the dinner table. We bought the chicco polly from BabiesRus. One major design problem is that you can't fit the tray in a normal size dishwasher.


"What do you mean I can't eat real food for another 2 months!"

Dessert

I'm 4 months old now!

I keep getting bigger and for some reason my peeps don't grow.

New discovery

How did I live without the internet for all these months?

Dunkin Donuts has arrived

I'm sure these weren't the donuts you were thinking of. Target and Safeway started carrying Dunkin Donuts coffee (they are cheaper at Target). I'm not really sure if these will taste any better than our normal coffee but it does remind us of our 2 years in Boston where there's a Dunkin Donuts at every corner.

Pool Time

Oh boy, I can't wait to pee in here too!



Found another snake in the pool today. This one was smaller than the last one. Luckily we discovered the snake before going in today.

MIT here I come!

We'll need to start saving now if Lauren wants to go to any private school for that matter. The avg 4 year tuition for a private school is estimated to be ~$300K in 2025.

Failed roll over attempt

Food and Wine

Here's one of our staple pasta dishes that has a lot of unique flavors and is very simple to make. You caramelize some onions, saute portabella mushrooms, and then mix this with ziti, goat cheese, and some reserved pasta water. Then you top it with a little olive oil, parsley, and parmesan cheese. Out of a year's subscription to Food and Wine back in 1996, this was the only recipe that I ever made. I'm surprised I managed to even make this since I never really read any of those magazines.

Cat Proof Chair

Our cats loved to sit on our old office chair leaving cat hair all over it. They also used it as a scratching post from time to time. As a result, it was time for a new chair. Here you can see our new modern chair. The cats have a very hard time walking on it and so far haven't been successful in sitting on it. Another side benefit is that the chair is very breezy which is perfect for staying cool in Arizona.

Trouble

Lauren seems innocent enough here but if you look closely, you'll notice that she's sleeping in a different position than all the other photos. Lauren has started to move on her own. The days of putting her down in a spot and knowing she'll be in the same spot are over.

Supergirl

Wheeee! I love to fly.

I'm 3 months old now!

Okay Teddy, just one more burp....

Curbside takeaway

Ever since Lauren, we've become very familiar with the curbside takeaway service at various restaurants. You call up and put in your order along with a description of your car and then when you get to the restaurant, they bring the food right to you. A few weeks ago we ordered some food from one of our favorite restaurants, Charleston's. I ordered the prime rib special medium rare but when I got home, it was well done. Since this was one of our favorite places, I decided to give them some feedback. They apologized for messing up the order and said they'd send us a gift certificate for the mistake.

Well we finally ended up using the gift certificate this weekend and ate at the restaurant. Luckily Lauren was on her best behavior. When we were about the leave, the manager stopped by and apologized for the previous meal and asked if everything was excellent this time around. We were surprised he took the time out or even remembered the poor curbside meal for that matter. Of course, I'm sure he has a log of all the comps he's had to give but regardless we were impressed. We'll keep going back there.

Lauren's thoughts

My plan is working. First the new camera, then the flash, and now the printer. Soon I'll get a new "safer" car and maybe even a larger house. By the time I'm a teenager, I'll be setting my own curfew....heh heh heh.

New toy for Lauren

We got a new photo printer so that we can print photos of Lauren. Our old printer was smudging the ink. Acceptable for normal printing but not for capturing those precious moments. We bought a Canon Pixma 4200 for $62. Automatic duplex printing, dual paper source, and 100 year ink life. Unfortunately the printer seems to be printing a little darker than what's on our screen but after some searching, found this link to adjust the color profile. I think Lauren will be wanting a HD Tivo next. :)

Take the pledge

I received a package in the mail the other day and had no idea what it was. Turns out it was a CFL from yahoo. I took the pledge a while ago and as part of the promotion, they would send you a CFL bulb. Sure enough it came. I just love getting free stuff. I think the CFLs have run out already in case you were thinking of taking the pledge.

On a side note, the city of phoenix came out with their most recent recycling info. They no longer support recycling #6 plastics (meat trays, etc). I emailed them asking if they had made a mistake and their response was:

The City of Phoenix has found no viable market for (Polystyrene (PS- code symbol #6) food or beverage foam plastics (egg cartons/meat trays/cups) and stiff packing foam like that found around new computers, televisions, stereos, etc. Perhaps at a future date but not currently.

Oh well, no need to wash those meat trays anymore.

Bibs don't lie

Smiling baby

Return of the Lizard

Our lizard friend is back. You can really see the different colors on his head and body. I'd much rather have lizards than scorpions in our backyard.

Home made french bread

Here you can see my attempt to make a crusty french bread. It's actually pretty easy when you have a breadmachine do all the kneading and rising. You just have to shape it, let it rise some more ,and then bake it in the oven. Since french bread doesn't have any sugar, the bread takes a lot longer to rise. From start to finish was about 4 hours.

Smiling Cactus

What is she doing in my spot?

More Bars in More Places

I've got your....

Dad, you aren't playing right. You are supposed to say, where's my nose?

Mistaken Identity

Maybe they'll mistake me for Lauren and pay more attention to me now.

No flash photography allowed!

We are taking a lot of pictures indoors now so it was time to upgrade to a better flash. The built-in flash does a pretty good job but it was a little harsh and causes shiny skin. We bought this Nikon SB-400 that you can see on top of the camera from Amazon. You can read a review here. It pairs up perfectly with the D40. It's nice and small and can do bounce flash. This is where you bounce the flash off the ceiling so it doesn't create such a harsh flash.


Here you can see Lauren with a bounce flash. The ceiling is a little too high so we'll have to experiment with adding a bounce card.


Here you can see Lauren with the built-in flash on the camera. You can see her shiny cheeks in this photo.

I'm 2 months old now!

Here you can see me hanging with my peeps.

Tired of waiting

I'm ready to have my diaper changed before my nap.

Orange Lion

What? Really? There are orange lions in the house?


That's not an orange lion!

Happiness

I'm a.....

Ha ha! Get it? I'm a Mini Pooper :) You thought it said Mini Cooper. Thanks Uncle Chaz for the great onesie. Although Mom and Dad have been calling me Mini Pooper all day. It's getting really old.

Pink treads

I've fallen and can't get up

Dad, this chair is for 3 month olds and up. I'm only 7 weeks. Now help me up.

On a side note, the snake was still in our pool but in our skimmer basket. He decided to try out our neighbor's pool with the help of our leaf skimmer pole. :)

I scream for .....

Stop the burping. Did you hear that? It's the ice cream truck!



Unfortunately this ice cream truck looks more like a van. There's just something special about hearing the ice cream truck and running after it. We might have to move back east just so Lauren can experience a real ice cream truck. :)

Snakes in a Pool

Lizards, birds, scorpions, and now snakes. Here you can see the snake swimming in our pool. Who can blame him? It's supposed to hit 116 degrees today.

After another hard day's work

How did I live without my papasan swing all these weeks?

Dining at Le Bistro

Finally after 4 years we are hoping to get some sound sleep. Our cats without fail wake us up at 4am everyday so we can feed them. They scratch on the door and will even throw their body into the door to wake us up. So in order to only be woken up once in the night by Lauren, we bought these automatic pet feeders to feed them at 4am. I'm really hoping this solves our problem.....